We next view the Doctor in “Planet of The Dead” where we have the Doctor and thief Lady Christina de Souza (Michelle Ryan) on a bus that goes through a wormhole that lands them on another planet. They must work together to get back to Earth and close the wormhole and prevent a race of metallic stingray aliens from coming through.
Along the way they meet the Tritovores, an insect-like race who feed on biological waste. The episode is fun and action-packed, with the chemistry between the Doctor and de Souza being very apparent. It’s too bad she’s his companion for just this one episode, but the writers make the most of it. The end of the episode leaves the Doctor with a very ominous warning which will lead to the return of one of his most dangerous adversaries and most likely the cause of his regeneration. “Planet of The Dead” was just a straight up fun adventure as the remaining specials will deal with an out of control Time Lord and his subsequent regeneration.
Now we have the final three specials which are on DVD for the first time. Up first is "The Waters of Mars." The Doctor arrives on Mars in 2059 at an outpost called Bowie Base One. He meets the crew, which includes Dr. Adelaide Brooks (Lindsay Duncan) who is the captain of the base. Once he learns exactly when and where he is, he realizes that a major catastrophe which will wipe out the base and its crew will happen on that very day! The Doctor realizes what’s about to occur but what’s never been known is what happened to the base and crew. But this is a fixed point in time, which means it can’t be altered as it will have consequences in the future, one of which is that Dr. Brooks' granddaughter will become a great space explorer due to the event. The Doctor needs to leave, but Dr. Brooks won’t let him, then the crew starts getting infected by an organism in the water and wants to take the shuttle back to Earth to take over our planet.
The episode sees an out of control Doctor, who decides to break the laws of space and time to try to rescue some of the crew because he has the power to do so. Because of this hubris, The Doctor has sealed his own fate. When he sees a member of the race known as the Ood, who is there to let him know his time is almost up, The Doctor realizes he’s gone too far, panics, and leaves in the TARDIS.
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Article comments
1 - Gavin Bollard
Not the best season from David Tennant. They're all good stories, just not great ones.
The fact that the final two-parter drags on a bit is probably good news for the new doctor Matt Smith. The first story of a new doctor is always difficult, but much more so if it follows a classic.
Even so, as a fan, I'll be getting this box set as soon as it's released in Australia. The extras sound pretty interesting too.